4 definitions
by
dullthud

Female ned. Dresses much the same, minus the cap but with the addition of a necklace spelling her name and a thick layer of cheap foundation which gives an unfortunate tangerine face. Hobbies include shoplifting, chewing gum, unfeasibly large hoop earrings, teenage pregnancy.

Term originally used by the East End razor gangs of interwar Glasgow. Sectarian and fiercely territorial, groups from different areas would engage in everything from casual one-upmanship to open street warfare. Best-known and most feared were the Tongs, the Toi and the Cumbies.

Smaller groups from other parts of the city identified themselves as the Anderston Young Team, Drumoyne Young Team and so on.

This latter form - or, more specifically, the tla arising - is now used by neds solely to give group identity to their immediate circle of friends.

Term used in connection with any of the five record companies that dominate the music industry.

Sony, Universal, BMG, EMI and Warner (and their innumerable subsidiaries) account for over 90% of the music sold in the United States and up to 80% globally. The majors are typically characterised as greedy, cynical, bandwagon-jumping and litigious (see also RIAA).

Not all artists signing to major labels suck, but the majority do fall into one of two categories:

(1) those plucked from obscurity, who are given some songs, handed over to a stylist and aggressively marketed

(2) those with previous careers and original material, who agree to remove all traces of innovation from their music, are rejected by their old fans as sellouts and are aggressively marketed.

Regardless of their popularity, most will be financially crippled by the label's dubious accounting and will be dropped the moment sales start to falter.

"...but then they signed to a major label and were swiftly homogenised. Shame."